FDX round-trip with Final Draft 12
Open in Arqo. Export back. Locked scene numbers, A-pages, dual dialogue, revision marks — preserved.
3 min readtopic 03 · Industry format
Final Draft is still where many production assistants live. We round-trip with Final Draft 12 verified by golden tests in CI.
What survives the round-trip
- Locked scene numbers
- A-page numbering
- Dual dialogue
- Eight WGA revision colors
- Asterisks where they belong
Importing
Scripts → Import → drop the .fdx. Done.
Exporting
File → Export → Final Draft (.fdx). Open in FD12 — no format drift.
SmartType / Tags
Verified. All six SmartType vocabularies (characters, locations, scene intros, time-of-day, extensions, transitions) plus cross-project recall. Tags import from FDX, edit via the selection menu, and export to FD12 / MMS breakdown sheets.